The best ball?

[B-rad]

In the winter the Titleist AVX is the bomb.  Lower compression feels great and it flies far, but still spins.   Flies true in the wind.   When it gets warmer I go right the ProVI.  Consistent, flies true and feels great putting.  
 

other lower cost balls, have never flown as far or curve too much in the wind.   

[PMookie]

7 hours ago, chisag said:

... I get it. Marketing and personal preference play a pretty big role in ball choice. That said, I would be willing to bet 99% of members here could not tell the difference between similar balls if they were completely blank and they had no idea what ball they were playing. Similar in any given category like a ProV1, Maxfli Tour, Vice Pro, Snell Black, Z Star, TP5, Wilson Staff or Kirkland V3. Granted ProV1 ranks best in quality and consistency year after year so understandable that some will only play them. But if you play often, there are just so many great balls out there for 1/2 the price and you can buy 4 dozen of the new Kirklands V3's for the price of 1 dozen ProV1's. 

Ping’s Ballnamic opened my eyes to the performance differences among similar balls, so even though a TP5X, a Pro V1X and a Srixon Z Star XV fall into similar categories, there are differences between them performance-wise for each specific golfer. Spin out of the rough, off driver, into and around greens, flier probability, length off irons and wedges, etc. Lots of differences.

[NM01]

7 hours ago, chisag said:

... I get it. Marketing and personal preference play a pretty big role in ball choice. That said, I would be willing to bet 99% of members here could not tell the difference between similar balls if they were completely blank and they had no idea what ball they were playing. Similar in any given category like a ProV1, Maxfli Tour, Vice Pro, Snell Black, Z Star, TP5, Wilson Staff or Kirkland V3. Granted ProV1 ranks best in quality and consistency year after year so understandable that some will only play them. But if you play often, there are just so many great balls out there for 1/2 the price and you can buy 4 dozen of the new Kirklands V3's for the price of 1 dozen ProV1's. 

People may not know the brand when they hit it but many will see the performance differences.

The TP5 series performs closes to the prov series for me but tee to green the prov series wins out. None of the tour b series work for me nor do the Srixon.

That’s all thru on course testing in same conditions I’ve e multiple rounds

I’ve done testing on a launch monitor as well and there’s spin, launch and speed differences

[chisag]

9 minutes ago, PMookie said:

Ping’s Ballnamic opened my eyes to the performance differences among similar balls, so even though a TP5X, a Pro V1X and a Srixon Z Star XV fall into similar categories, there are differences between them performance-wise for each specific golfer. Spin out of the rough, off driver, into and around greens, flier probability, length off irons and wedges, etc. Lots of differences.

 

... To be fair you are in a different category than 99% of forum members. I think the faster you swing the more difference you can identify. Speaking from personal on course experience with a pedestrian 95mph swing, I just don't find much difference between the balls I play. Rough? Not in Phoenix . But I have done quite a few ball to ball testings like hitting 10 shots with a 4 iron from 200yds and 20 or so pitches, then the same amount of chips and I just didn't find much difference between similar premium balls at all. Obviously every player is different but I would also add most do not have a consistent enough swing or short game to reap the subtle differences between balls. I hope to do some testing with the Maxfli Tour and new Kirkland V3 because they "seem" to perform very similar, but I have not compared them during a round. Just a similar flight, distance and spin during different rounds. 

... All that said, I am always open to new information or technology and if a fitting found one ball performed better than others I would gladly take the recommendation. 

[PMookie]

14 hours ago, chisag said:

 

... To be fair you are in a different category than 99% of forum members. I think the faster you swing the more difference you can identify. Speaking from personal on course experience with a pedestrian 95mph swing, I just don't find much difference between the balls I play. Rough? Not in Phoenix . But I have done quite a few ball to ball testings like hitting 10 shots with a 4 iron from 200yds and 20 or so pitches, then the same amount of chips and I just didn't find much difference between similar premium balls at all. Obviously every player is different but I would also add most do not have a consistent enough swing or short game to reap the subtle differences between balls. I hope to do some testing with the Maxfli Tour and new Kirkland V3 because they "seem" to perform very similar, but I have not compared them during a round. Just a similar flight, distance and spin during different rounds. 

... All that said, I am always open to new information or technology and if a fitting found one ball performed better than others I would gladly take the recommendation. 

Here are categories of info that Ballnamic provides that probably aren’t noticeable even to a pro. Anyway, might be worth the investment for some to see how balls differ based-on fitting  numbers, results.

[chisag]

18 minutes ago, PMookie said:

Here are categories of info that Ballnamic provides that probably aren’t noticeable even to a pro. Anyway, might be worth the investment for some to see how balls differ based-on fitting  numbers, results.

 

... To be clear, these are numbers gathered and averaged from multiple fittings but not an actual individual fitting where you hit balls with a LM? 

[Roy5349]

I’ve played most every ball from original Top Fite to ProV 1 in my 40 plus years. Most recently I’ve gamed the Pro V1, Pro V 1 x, Srixon Z Star and Z Star x. My opinion is that they are all very similar, regular vs X , but overall the edge in performance for me is the Z Star. To me they feel slightly better overall, perform just as well and are a lot cheaper than Pro V 1. $14-15 per dozen cheaper is huge difference for me for virtually the exact same performance with my game. 

[PMookie]

2 hours ago, chisag said:

 

... To be clear, these are numbers gathered and averaged from multiple fittings but not an actual individual fitting where you hit balls with a LM? 

They take the numbers from my actual fitting with a LM and from there compare to fitting data from other balls in the category they’ve collected from people with similar swing speeds, launch numbers, etc. The balls themselves, their composition of characteristics, are the differentiator.

[chisag]

10 minutes ago, PMookie said:

They take the numbers from my actual fitting with a LM and from there compare to fitting data from other balls in the category they’ve collected from people with similar swing speeds, launch numbers, etc. The balls themselves, their composition of characteristics, are the differentiator.

 

... Nice! 

[Nm243008]

On 5/12/2023 at 7:10 AM, drb1956 said:

And that's fine. Does not mean it is "BEST" for me......

thats not the title of the post.....if that were, nobody could answer that question except for you

[Tincuptim]

Some people drive Buicks and assume drive Mercedes. I volunteered at the NCAA tournament at Grayhawk and when I was in the landing area on #11, the long par 5, I checked and only 7 balls were not Titlest out of the 84 players that came through. Different strokes for different folks but that was pretty telling to me. Not everyone needs to hit them but for quality, Titlest is tough to beat. 

[D.Murphy]

On 5/3/2023 at 2:14 PM, Rhinosparky said:

I think you have to look at your game and cost compared to the quality .

For me my game is not good enough (15 handicap) to pay for a premium ball and my home course is an absolute ball eating machine.

I want a premium ball but cannot justify the $55 per dozen that the OEM brands demand. That why I currently play the Maxfli Tour Soft.  At $30 a dozen I can play a premium ball and it works great for me.

Agreed!! I play Callaway mostly as of late due to getting 15 for about $20-ish the last year or so. The warbirds have treated me fairly well and I really can't complain, mainly due to not being that great at the whole golf thing away. The one thing I don't like about cheaper/harder balls is the feel when putting. I really like the way a ProV1 feels when I am putting.
I recently bought a dozen just for putting because I like the way it feels. 
So tee to green I play the Callaway's I have stuffed in the bag, regardless of type. Then when comes time to finishing out on the green, just do a quick ball switch and call it a day. 
I don't feel bad about losing a handful of Callaway's throughout the day, I would feel REAL bad losing $55 worth of balls.

[skraeling]

5 minutes ago, D.Murphy said:

Agreed!! I play Callaway mostly as of late due to getting 15 for about $20-ish the last year or so. The warbirds have treated me fairly well and I really can't complain, mainly due to not being that great at the whole golf thing away. The one thing I don't like about cheaper/harder balls is the feel when putting. I really like the way a ProV1 feels when I am putting.
I recently bought a dozen just for putting because I like the way it feels. 
So tee to green I play the Callaway's I have stuffed in the bag, regardless of type. Then when comes time to finishing out on the green, just do a quick ball switch and call it a day. 
I don't feel bad about losing a handful of Callaway's throughout the day, I would feel REAL bad losing $55 worth of balls.

I feel like getting the cheapest urethane ball you can is a decent place to start regardless of brand.  That cover type just plays so so much better.

[D.Murphy]

2 minutes ago, skraeling said:

I feel like getting the cheapest urethane ball you can is a decent place to start regardless of brand.  That cover type just plays so so much better.

Are you saying the Callaway is a cheaper urethane ball? and the ProV's play better due to the cover type? 
I have a real bad habit of getting WAY to invested into sports and hobbies, I have several already(BJJ, MMA, Cycling) that I try to keep myself from going full bore into golf. At one time about a decade + ago I would be able to keep up with this convo but now I'm outta the loop of what is what, so just trying to clarify what you were meaning

[skraeling]

3 minutes ago, D.Murphy said:

Are you saying the Callaway is a cheaper urethane ball? and the ProV's play better due to the cover type? 
I have a real bad habit of getting WAY to invested into sports and hobbies, I have several already(BJJ, MMA, Cycling) that I try to keep myself from going full bore into golf. At one time about a decade + ago I would be able to keep up with this convo but now I'm outta the loop of what is what, so just trying to clarify what you were meaning

I dont know specifically what the callaway has for its various tiers of balls, Im only saying a urethane cover is really really nice to have.

[GregGarner]

On 8/10/2023 at 10:22 AM, D.Murphy said:

Are you saying the Callaway is a cheaper urethane ball? and the ProV's play better due to the cover type? 
I have a real bad habit of getting WAY to invested into sports and hobbies, I have several already(BJJ, MMA, Cycling) that I try to keep myself from going full bore into golf. At one time about a decade + ago I would be able to keep up with this convo but now I'm outta the loop of what is what, so just trying to clarify what you were meaning

The Warbird is an ionomer covered ball. In the Callaway lineup, the urethane balls are Chrome Soft, Chrome Soft X, and Chrome Soft X LS. The ERC Soft is an ionomer cover with a urethane coating, and all other Callaway balls (at least in the US), are ionomer.

[sawgrass238]

Bridgestone. Been test at club head speed and putting. They suggested a specific balls which matched my game


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[Cuzy51]

I have tried several different brands and compression golf balls, kept going back to Titleist AVX which complements my game very well, does it all fit me , period .

[Alfred DuPuy]

I don't have any in the bag right now (nor in the basement storage corner), but from a value perspective, nothing beats the ODIN X1. I encourage many of you who, like me, gravitate towards a TP5 or a ProV1 to give it a try.

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

I started the year with Bridgestone. Now moved onto the new snell balls. For the price they are awesome and they have 4 different varieties for your needs. 

[Delaware Joe]

Hi All, Well being an old guy, who has been playing golf since he was 18, I can probably say that I’ve played every ball that’s been out there since the 70’s. I mean we’re talking, balata, liquid centers (which you should never try to open by the way), the old Royal’s (who I believe had the first hexagon dimples), 2 piece, 3 piece, 4 piece, and 5 piece. When I was younger and my swing speed was up around 105-110, you couldn’t beat Titleist balls and their performance. But now at 72 and with a swing speed of 93 on a good day, I’ve found that the TP5 to be my very favorite ball, however due to the cost factor I have been playing the MaxFli Tour and the Taylormade Tour Response. I find both of these balls to suit my game pretty darn well, and I’m not pissed off for 2 holes if I should happen to drop one in a pond due to some stupid bounce.

[RetiredBoomer]

28 minutes ago, Delaware Joe said:

 When I was younger and my swing speed was up around 105-110, you couldn’t beat Titleist balls and their performance. 

When I was in my prime,
Titleist made only wound golf balls (Pinnacle was Acushnet but not Titleist),
and I NEVER found consistency in clubbing myself with even the most premium wound golf balls, balata or surlyn covered (no urethane then).

My preferred original model Spalding Top Flites admittedly felt hard as rocks, 
but they were a beautifully consistent ball clubbing yourself with the investment cast stainless steel clubs that were popular at the time.  There was like a synergy between them as if they were made for each other.
 

 

 

 

[GolferXY]

Favorite ball?  Best ball?  Todays multi-core urethane covered balls are fantastic.  ProV1 2019 was great performing, great feeling to me.  BUT

I like the old Titelist Balata from the 70's cuz it would always smile at me after a bad shot.

I liked the smaller British Dunlop 65 1.62" ball.  Always putted well with it and could hit any shot I wanted. High. Low. Controlled fade and draw.  Loved it.  It never flew quite as far, but distance was never an issue in my game.  Unfortunately, I had trouble finding them so rarely got to use one for more than a round and they could get really expensive.

I also like the Royal hexagonally dimpled balls just 'cuz they were cool looking.

Current ball is the ProV1X.  It's a bit firmer than I'd like, but performance is tops for me.  I like the TP5's, but they just don't travel as far as the ProV1X.  Also, the Titleist has a bit more stopping power. 

 

[GolferXY]

3 hours ago, RetiredBoomer said:

When I was in my prime,
Titleist made only wound golf balls (Pinnacle was Acushnet but not Titleist),
and I NEVER found consistency in clubbing myself with even the most premium wound golf balls, balata or surlyn covered (no urethane then).

My preferred original model Spalding Top Flites admittedly felt hard as rocks, 
but they were a beautifully consistent ball clubbing yourself with the investment cast stainless steel clubs that were popular at the time.  There was like a synergy between them as if they were made for each other.

I used the Top Flite balls occasionally, especially when playing on a long course where I could run the ball up to the green as they had zero stopping power.  And you ain't kiddin', it was hitting a rock.  I'd never use one of those old balls with the driver faces of today!

[Dweed]

There are many balls that I've used that I like (mostly found then play balls). Cost has always been a concern for me. Yes, I could afford a Pro V1, but...why when a Callaway ERC Soft or Maxfli seem to work just as well with my game. If I loose one I'm not mad.

[RetiredBoomer]

4 hours ago, GolferXY said:

I used the Top Flite balls occasionally, especially when playing on a long course where I could run the ball up to the green as they had zero stopping power.  And you ain't kiddin', it was hitting a rock.  I'd never use one of those old balls with the driver faces of today!

Believe it or not, I could spin Top Flites with the heavily sole weighted, (now non-conforming) box groove Spalding Executive irons that I was playing.  That's because hard stainless club and hard ball were made for each other.

Top Flites wanted to fly low, but iron number for iron number, the clubs were two clubs more lofted.

Agree that modern drivers wouldn't stand up to them, but today, we have non-wound balls that aren't hard,
and we have no wound balls at all!

[GolferXY]

1 hour ago, RetiredBoomer said:

Believe it or not, I could spin Top Flites with the heavily sole weighted, (now non-conforming) box groove Spalding Executive irons that I was playing.  That's because hard stainless club and hard ball were made for each other.

Top Flites wanted to fly low, but iron number for iron number, the clubs were two clubs more lofted.

Agree that modern drivers wouldn't stand up to them, but today, we have non-wound balls that aren't hard,
and we have no wound balls at all!

Those old  clubs were great. I was just comparing my old 1976 Staff muscle backs to my new(er) Pings and the grooves were so much wider and deeper, no wonder we could spin the ball so we'll. Of course, I had decent club speed back in them dark ages.

[steelerfan1974]

I have been testing the Bridgestone Tour b x mindset ball. I really like the concept and the ball has helped me in my driver aim. Before using the ball I would have to question some of my shots based on where I thought I was aiming and where they ended up. As for performance, they are as long as any ball I've tried(quite a few, newby to golf,lots of choices) and provide good feel on touch shots

[Donn lost in San Diego]

Most guys here pick based on full swing feel/speed/distance/spin.  But most of what I read by "pro" fitters, says start on the green, find what you like for putting and chipping.  Then find the flex / kick point/ etc. of your other clubs shafts to get the flight you want.

Does anybody do that?  Am I a brown shoe when everyone is a tuxedo?